and i think it was jon stewart who said upon seeing a picture of john boehner recently that he looked like the world's saddest tangerine. but, yeah. i mean, this exposes john boehner's weakness. political weakness. this is what he wanted for years, to be the speaker. he got the speakership because of the tidal wave of tea party people coming in. but be careful what you wish for. now he can't govern that majority. and he's downstairs here, and we are all standing around waiting to see what happens pleading with people to try to get the votes he needs. and he is short. according to the people i have talked to, he's short. it's humiliating. and i think he will be challenged sometime soon, no matter what happens on this vote. >>> thank you both so much for joining me tonight. >>> coming up -- the republicans say they want deficit reduction. what they really mean is government reduction. ezra klein joins me. >>> and an epic battle between tea partiers and hobbits is raging. inside the mind of one u.s. senator, john mccain. "the rewrite" is next. >>> coming up -- hey, wait a minute. we're d